Orphaned 5 Year Old Girl

We have it written in our will as to who is to look after our children if both my husband and I should pass away. I asked that person first before we put it in the will. So that person knows, and our lawyer knows, and we have a copy of a will in the house. I'm not sure whether we told our children (10 and 14) but, God willing, it won't be necessary. When I was a teenager there was a family living next door to us. The parents were originally from England and they had one teenage daughter. The parents always travelled separately, on different airplanes, so that if something were to happen to one of them the child would not be left parentless.

This really is so sad. I live in south africa and that is just horrible. I also have an adopted 5 year old son and this makes me so scared to think that these bad things can happen to us at any time or anywhere. I wonder what will happen to the 5 year old now. I feel so sorry for her and how is she going to understand all this trauma and who will help her through it?

The poor little dear how tragic to loose both your parents at once.My children thankfull are almost old enough to care for themselves and i would hope that they would look out for each other .MY family all live here in Australia and i do not think that my children would ever want for anything .

i wanted to cry after reading the story. how sad. i am from sa myself. we also want to escape the crime. why did it have to happen that way. at least Reef is safe from the monsters in sa. i hope they find a way to get her grandmom there. my daughter goes to my parents if something happened to us.

I have thought about this myself but to be honest, i cant think of anyone i would want to raise my daughter. My Mum does things differently to how i want them to be done, my siblings aren't old enough - well, with the ages people are having kids, they are but my sister isn't mature enough & my brother has a budding football career so no room for that! Then there's my partners family, i would never have my daughter raised by his parents & i don't think he would either - he has 3 siblings - the oldest of the 3 already has 4 kids, the next has 3 kids so both of them are out of the question & the youngest has just had a baby & i don't think she's mature enough to raise her own child as well as ours who is already 13 months. We're kind of at a loss as to what we should do with our daughter - we don't want immediate family & we haven't got any close friends. It really isn't as easy as it sounds! One day we'll find someone that we both agree on but for the moment, it's just too hard.

no we don't and that scares me cuz what it you know? we've talked about getting a living will and such sorted out, but have we acted on that yet NO, and we really need to, for our son's sake. it's just scary to think about.

Oh no, maddy...I seriously never ever thought of this matter. I can only rely on my faith that I will always be there for my little ones until they are both capable on their own. I wouldn't even dare think of it. I don't think I would rest in peace knowing I had left a 5 years old behind. Sadly, I have no one to turn to care for my girls in situation like this. :(

I would think that these would be instrutions that you would give to your Attorney or clergy or closest living relative. Write in a will, after getting permission from that person, who you would want to raise your child. Should something happen to you and your husband, there should be someone whom you trust completely to immediately take him in and care for him.

I feel so sorry for the little girl and her grand parent for their loss. Reef is only 5 years old and now she is without her mum and dad. New Zealand is a lovely place to live. My 12 year old son has not got many more years to go until he is grown up. I know that my sister would always help him if I was not still alive. But I do worry about my 8 week old son. He has spina bifida and so he would need much more care than my other son.

yes, i totally agree with your feeling. What we can say is we cant predict what will be happen next, actually anything can be happen in next minute, so we just do our best to provide our children best protection.take care

do you visit your aunt and uncle in new haven? that's where yale university is right? think it's a pretty place... i suppose if something like that happened, the family will rally around, and someone will rise up to the occassion and take in your kids and give them a home. there have been cases when strangers took in such kids too. there are so many who want to adopt children these days....